Keen tussle on the card in three city's urban constituencies

Last Modified Monday, 7 May 2018 (12:41 IST)

Mysuru: The three urban assembly constituencies in city of palaces of Mysuru is poised to witness a closely fought battle between major parties of congress , Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) in the elections scheduled for may 12.The common issues in all constituencies pertain to drinking water, rehabilitation of slum-dwellers, solid waste management and civic amenities.

After the delimitation process during the last elections voters has been reallocated to Chamarajaja, Narasimhraja and Krishnaraja segments. all the three constituencies names were the rulers of the Mysuru royal family .

During the 2013 elections congress has got all the three seats , however, this elections will be testing time for the seating MLAs with Vasu seeking for second term in Chamaraja while Somashekar also for second term while minister Tanveer Sait looking for his fifth time in a row .

Chamaraja Assembly constituency in Mysuru, which was snatched by the Congress' Vasu during the 2013 Assembly elections after four successive terms by BJP's H.S. Shankarlinge Gowda since 1994, is shaping up for an interesting electoral battle in the coming Assembly elections, former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily described the development works as a "model" for the rest of the State. Mr. Vasu, who was publicly backed by Mr. Moily for a renomination, and got it .

But, the electoral contest has turned out be interesting with former Vice-Chancellor of University of Mysore and Karnataka State Open University K.S. Rangappa, who has been harbouring political ambitions, throwing his hat in the ring as the JD(S) candidate upsetting the calculations of party colleague Harish Gowda, also a strong aspirant for ticket.

Mr. Harish Gowda, who served as the party's Mysuru city unit president, has raised a banner of revolt and enter the poll fray as an Independent. Though he was to be made the party candidate in the last elections, Mr. Gowda claimed he made way for Mr. Shankarlinge Gowda, who quit the BJP and contested as JD(S) candidate unsuccessfully in 2013.

The BJP candidate , former MUDA chairman Nagendra, who was the party candidate election, making efforts to gain the vakaliga community help from the constituency to win besides backing the bjp government's achievements at the centre.

When it comes to campaigning, Mr. Rangappa appears to be the first off the block with the JD(S) already announcing his name in the first list of official party candidates. He has started meeting people, organising functions, displaying posters on autorickshaws, and even bringing out a booklet on his achievements and promises.

But, Mr. Vasu was dismissive of the JD(S) holding out any threat to him in the constituency. "The JD(S) will not be my rival. It will be the BJP. Not because of the candidate, but because of the party," he pointed out.

Mr. Vasu hopes the voters of the constituency will hold him in good stead in view of the more than ?1,500 crore worth development works taken up in his constituency during his tenure.

Mr Vasu isposing severe threat to BJP, enjoys the support of vakkaligas, other backward classes voters in the segment, making all out efforts retain his seat second time. the constituency has voters of 2,35,647 consists of major community of vokkaliga, middle class families and others.

The Krishnaraja assembly segment which is expected to witness a keen contest between archrivals S A Ramadas of the BJP and M K Somashekar of the congress party.During the 2004 assembly elections, the constituency reckoned to have been nurtured by the bjp suffered a setback when the two time MLA Mr Ramadas suffered a defeat at the hands of M R Somasekhar, who was then with the JD(S) by a margin of 3400 votes.

Observers point out that Krishnaraja segment has a sizeable number of brahamins compared to any other constituency, the delimitation exercise expanded the constituency's limits and the number of voters increased from 2, 15,995 to 2,47,082 voters .

Mr. Somasekhar , follower of the chief minister Siddaramiah defeated Mr Ramadas and is seeking reelection with backing on the traditional backward class and daliths votes in the constituency expected to give befitting reply to the BJP.The JD(S) candidate for Mallesh , a Mysuru City Corporation member . Incidentally, Krishnaraja segment is of the few assembly constituencies where all the three political parties have savoured victory in the earlier elections.

Even though JD(S) candidates in the fray, it looks like straight fight between bjp and congress party in the constituency .The Narasimharaja Assembly constituency in the city which has a substantial concentration of Muslim votes, has for long remained a Congress fortress and a pocket borough of the Sait family. But, the party could face a tough challenge in the coming polls as it will have to counter not only the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which finished second during 2013 polls, but also the Janata Dal (Secular), which has chosen to field Abdullah.The JD(S) decision to field Mr. Abdullah by including his name in the first list of candidates announced by the party is expected to alter the caste arithmetic in the constituency and have bearing on the outcome of the polls.

It may be recalled here that late Minister Azeez Sait, father of sitting MLA and Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Tanveer Sait, had lost the elections to BJP's Maruthi Rao Pawar narrowly during the 1994 Assembly polls when the same Mr. Abdullah contested as a Karnataka Congress Party (KCP) candidate from the constituency, albeit he finished fourth. Hence, political observers in the constituency point out that the going could turn tough for Mr. Tanveer Sait in the coming polls as the Congress, JD(S) and SDPI candidates will all be vying for the same Muslim votes and thereby dividing them.

SDPI candidate Abdul Majeed, who polled 29,667 votes during the 2013 Assembly polls and finished second against Tanveer Sait's 38,037 votes, is making a determined bid to win this time.Former Mayor R. Lingappa of the JD(S) said the party, by fielding Mr. Abdullah, hopes to exploit the alienation among a section of the voters, particularly Muslims, who are against the incumbent MLA Tanveer Sait. Besides, the party has its own support base in the constituency.

Will the division of secular votes between Congress and JD(S) help the BJP repeat its 1994 performance by winning the seat?

But, Mysuru City Congress Committee president R. Murthy said the Congress had won the 2013 polls mostly from the support of non-Muslim in the constituency. "This time, we will attract more votes from the Muslim community on the strength of programmes offered by the CM," he said. It looks like a triangular contest in Narasimharaja (NR) Assembly constituency, a bastion of the Sait family. Tanveer Sait has won from here three times and his father Azeez Sait represented it four times. the total 2,62,300 voters.

The Congress has done well in this segment, where Muslim vote is the key. Standing between Mr. Sait and a fifth win from the constituency are Sandesh Swamy, bjp candidates after leaving (Janata Dal ? Secular) joined BJP.(UNI)